MIKE FLEMING wrote:EXCLUSIVE:Disney has set Brian Beletic, a hotshot commercials director, to make his feature helming debut on the untitled film that’s inspired by the theme park Matterhorn ride. The studio is calling the film its “Untitled Explorers Project.” The logline: a small group of young, super adventure/explorers, each with a specific skill set, are brought to the remote backcountry of the Pennine Alps under various guises for a trek across one of the planet’s remaining untouched realms. They do this with extreme skiing, snowboarding and mountaineering. Beletic is a co-founder of Smuggler and a top commercials director whose blurbs include Nike’s “Human Chain” spots and who has made videos with the likes of The Black Eyed Peas. Disney felt he could be its latest find after the studio gave starts to Tron: Legacy‘s Joseph Kosinski and The Muppets‘ James Bobin. Jason Dean Hall wrote the script and Justin Springer is producing. The studio has hired Brain Farm Cinema as production consultants. They created the extreme snowboarding film Art Of Flight.

Borys Kit wrote:Disney is hitting the ground running in 2012, hiring directors on two different projects in one day.

The studio has tapped Robert Stromberg, the production designer behind the billion-dollar grossing Avatar and Disney’s Alice in Wonderland, to direct Maleficent, the company’s live-action take on Sleeping Beauty. The project, which tells the fairy tale from the point of view of the evil witch who threatened to kill the princess, is being crafted with Angelina Jolie in mind, although the actress is not officially committed.

Tim Burton was loosely attached to direct Maleficent, written by Linda Woolverton and produced by Joe Roth, but he backed away last May; the studio had been trying to find their prince since.

UTA-repped Stromberg, who has won two Oscars for his work, has shown the studio his capabilities not only on Alice but on also on the studio’s upcoming tentpole, Oz: The Great and Powerful, directed by Sam Raimi.

At the same time on Friday, Disney hired commercial director Brian Beletic to helm the studio's untitled explorers project. Written by Jason Dean Hall and produced by Justin Springer, the project is described as “an origin story for a new generation of super explorers.”

In announcing the project, the studio provided the following logline:

"A small group of young, super adventurer/explorers, each with a specific skill set, are brought to the remote backcountry of the Pennine Alps under various guises for a trek across one of the planet's remaining untouched realms. Here they partake in extreme skiing, snowboarding and mountaineering, encountering some of the world's most beautiful, but also perilous environments. In the face of life-threatening mountain conditions, they unravel the truth about one another, as well as why they were brought there, and ultimately uncover a mountain secret that may cost them their lives. And when the true motivation for their expedition comes to light, a covert organization with a long, yet secret history of global exploration is divulged."

On top of hiring Beletic, the studio has brought on board Brain Farm Cinema, the boutique production house that is known for filming extreme sports as production consultants.

NIKKI FINKE wrote:BREAKING… Here is what fired Walt Disney Studios Chairman Rich Ross just sent to his staff, followed by a statement from Disney Chairman Bob Iger. But make no mistake about it: Ross did not simply decide to step down: he was fired. He was named Chairman of the Walt Disney Studios on October 5, 2009. Previously, he’d been the very successful President of Disney Channels Worldwide overseeing global hits like Hannah Montana and High School Musical. His ouster now ends his 15+ year Disney career which included the worst film failure in Hollywood — John Carter, a $200M writedown for the Walt Disney Co. Analysis coming:

Marc Graser wrote:Rich Ross is out as chairman of Walt Disney Studios, a surprise exit wedged between the company's staggering $200 million writedown from "John Carter" and the inevitable box office and ancillary coin from Marvel's "The Avengers."

The exec alerted staffers in an email Friday morning of his decision to step down, saying: "The best people need to be in the right jobs, in roles they are passionate about, doing work that leverages the full range of their abilities. It's one of the leadership lessons I've learned during my career, and it's something I've been giving a great deal of thought to as I look at the challenges and opportunities ahead."

Word of Ross' possible departure started spreading late Thursday after the exec began canceling several high-profile meetings, sources told Variety. The former head of Disney Channels Worldwide, Ross was upped to head the film studio by Walt Disney Company chairman and CEO Bob Iger in October 2009.

Already, Marvel Studios topper Kevin Feige is considered to be at the top of lists for job, given his experience in launching new franchises that perform at the box office -- "Iron Man," "Thor," "Captain America: The First Avenger" -- and spin off sequels, TV shows, videogames, toys and other consumer products, while keeping a close eye on overhead and production costs through long-term deals with actors and tax breaks. All are attributes that fit Disney's mandate from Iger.

Other candidates include DreamWorks co-prexy and CEO Stacey Snider and producer Joe Roth, who once ran Walt Disney Studios from 1994-2000 and is behind billion-dollar blockbuster "Alice in Wonderland," and the upcoming "Oz: The Great and Powerful" and "Maleficent," starring Angelina Jolie. Disney production prexy Sean Bailey could also be in the mix, as could "Battleship" producer Scott Stuber, who has a first-look deal at Universal (which he once ran with Mary Parent, who's also considered a possibility).

Though "John Carter" was greenlit by the Dick Cook regime and championed by John Lasseter and other top Pixar Animation Studios brass, Ross is still taking much of the blame for the film's poor performance at the box office. Film has earned just $269 million worldwide since its release March 9, and $69 million domestically, forcing the studio to take a $200 million writedown before its second quarter earnings are released May 8.

Such a high-profile failure comes at a time when risk-averse parent companies are scrutinizing shrinking slates -- Disney's own internal wrangling over the budget of next year's "The Lone Ranger" is a prime example -- and demonstrating minimal tolerance for misses in the search for franchise hits. That's put pressure on studio heads to perform more than ever, focusing less on the creative elements of moviemaking and more on the bottomline.

Ross is also smarting from the experimental hiring of Hollywood outsider MT Carney as the studio's marketing chief in 2010. After a long search, Ross tapped Carney from Madison Avenue, where she ran the New York arm of ad shop Naked Communications; but Carney's inexperience in marketing tentpole movies was quickly exposed, forcing Ross to replace her in January with Participant Media president Ricky Strauss.

When films fail at the box office, the marketing chief is usually the first to take the blame -- and to get the boot. But the studio chief is always second. Bailey, another Ross hire, will continue as the studio's president of production.

Disney did enjoy some hits under Ross.

The first film he officially greenlit, "Pirates of the Caribbean: On Stranger Tides," sailed past $1 billion worldwide; "Tangled" surprised many when it was able to attract a broader audience to the female-skewing Rapunzel tale, which earned $591 million globally; and "Cars 2" revved up more than $500 million. "The Muppets" also was relaunched under Ross, with a sequel now in the works.

But there were also flops, most notably "John Carter," "Prom" and "Mars Needs Moms," which led to the shuttering of Robert Zemeckis' production studio ImageMovers Digital.

Upcoming tentpoles greenlit by Ross include Sam Raimi's "Oz: The Great and Powerful," Jerry Bruckheimer's "The Lone Ranger" and "Maleficent."

Marvel's "The Avengers," the first film Disney is releasing since buying the comicbook publisher in 2009 for $4 billion, bows to what's being predicted as a $150 million domestic opening weekend on May 4. Ross is departing the studio before he can benefit from the film's expected heroic haul.

"I no longer believe the Chairman role is the right professional fit for me," Ross said in his written statement. "For that reason, I have made the very difficult decision to step down as Chairman of The Walt Disney Studios, effective today."

Given Ross' track record at Disney Channels, which launched franchises like "High School Musical" and "Hannah Montana," during his tenure, Iger felt the exec could transfer his abilities in launching hits under a tighter budget that could benefit the rest of the conglom's divisions, from TV, homevid, online, games, theme park attractions and merchandise. When Iger hired Ross, the Disney chief was openly disappointed by the studio's performance, and wanted to reduce the risk of making movies whose commercial prospects seemed like a gamble.

As a result, Disney is producing fewer films that focus on the Disney family brand, while it relies on Marvel, Pixar and DreamWorks to supply the rest of the studio's slate.

"For more than a decade, Rich Ross's creative instincts, business acumen and personal integrity have driven results in key businesses for Disney, redefining success in kids and family entertainment and launching franchises that generate value across our entire company," Iger said. "I appreciate his countless contributions throughout his entire career at Disney."

Kim Masters wrote:The exec had a rocky tenure at the film studio, with his greatest setback being the March box-office failure "John Carter."

Rich Ross, who had enjoyed great success running Disney's cable channels but struggled in the top post at the film studio, has resigned.

"I no longer believe the chairman role is the right professional fit for me," Ross said in a statement released by Disney on Friday. "For that reason, I have made the very difficult decision to step down as chairman of the Walt Disney Studios, effective today."

Ross, hired by Disney CEO Bob Iger in October 2009, stirred controversy by pushing many seasoned executives out of the studio and hiring outsider MT Carney to run marketing. She left Disney in January. But no doubt his greatest setback was the failure of the big-budget John Carter, which led to a $200 million write-down for the company in March.

That also reportedly led to friction and complaints from Pixar's John Lasseter, who also is chief creative officer at Walt Disney Animation Studios.

Iger praised Ross in a statement released Friday: "For more than a decade, Rich Ross’s creative instincts, business acumen and personal integrity have driven results in key businesses for Disney, redefining success in kids and family entertainment and launching franchises that generate value across our entire company. His vision and leadership opened doors for Disney around the world, making our brand part of daily life for millions of people. I appreciate his countless contributions throughout his entire career at Disney and expect he will have tremendous success in whatever he chooses to do next."

It has long been difficult for an "outsider" from television to gain traction in the industry's insular film studio culture, as such executives as Brandon Tartikoff and Gail Berman learned during brief and unhappy tenures at Paramount. The same was true of Ross, whose manner struck some in the industry as detached and even patronizing.

Ross greenlighted few projects during his tenure at the studio. His first movie, the low-budget high school dramedy Prom, grossed just $10 million worldwide and struck some observers as a film more suited for television. Two other Disney projects initiated under Ross, Sam Raimi's Oz: The Great and Powerful and the Johnny Depp starrer The Lone Ranger, are $200 million-plus gambles. Ross' negotiation on Lone Ranger brought the studio press attention last summer when he and Iger held a hard line with producer Jerry Bruckheimer and director Gore Verbinski to trim costs.

Ross' abrupt resignation leaves the question of who will take the job. Given Disney's decision to dial back on the number of films that the studio produces -- as well as Iger's reputation for disliking the movie business generally -- the job might have limited appeal to top candidates. On the other hand, studio chief jobs rarely become available, and the relative stability atop Disney's rivals means the job will still be coveted. The lack of a deep bench left in the wake of Ross's tenure would seem to make the addition of a seasoned executive a necessity.

Patrick Goldstein wrote:I’d be lying if I said I knew exactly why Rich Ross got the ax as head of Disney Studios on Friday after barely 2 ½ years in the job. But like a lot of people in Hollywood, I’d also be lying if I said I knew why he got the job in the first place.

Ross was a pure-blooded TV guy. He had a long, successful stint running the Disney Channel, which is a huge profit center in the Disney universe. Then, in fall 2009, Disney chief Bob Iger unceremoniously showed studio head Dick Cook the door, ending his four-decade career at the company. People in showbiz were amazed when Iger plucked Ross from relative obscurity to take over the studio. But the message from Iger was clear: Disney needs new blood.

Actors, directors and other talent may move between TV and film with ease these days. But showbiz executives tend to become specialists at an early age; TV is TV and film is film. And in a business where relationships make the world go 'round, Ross had no real juice with any top Hollywood talent.

Iger, however, believed it was time to shake up the cobwebby confines of Disney. It’s been clear for years that Iger, a onetime TV guy himself, is impatient with all of the old ways of doing business in Hollywood, which is why he was the first studio chief to butt heads with theater owners over moving up the release dates of DVDs.

Unlike a host of top executives who have lost their jobs because they made bad movies, Ross, I’d argue, is out on the street largely because he’s the fall guy for a series of questionable executive hirings at the studio. After all, Ross was only doing Iger’s bidding by shaking up the studio. All sorts of executives have come and gone, leaving the place in the hands of people who had no real experience doing the jobs they were asked to do.People who did business at Disney often came away asking the same question — who actually had the institutional memory to know what they were doing? Ross was head of the studio, but had no experience running a movie studio. He hired (and then fired) MT Carney as the studio’s head of marketing, even though Carney — who’d run a small marketing boutique in New York — had no experience running a big studio marketing machine.

Still on board is Sean Bailey, the studio’s head of production, who has earned mixed reviews. A former producer, he has had no experience overseeing a studio slate.

Having a bunch of rookies running a studio has stymied Disney’s reinvention efforts. This was especially evident in the handling of “John Carter,” the costly live-action adventure film directed by Andrew Stanton that was greenlighted under Cook and released this March to a chorus of bad buzz and lousy reviews. It quickly ending up as the studio’s biggest flop in years.

Stanton had unparalleled success as a Pixar writer-director, with films including "Finding Nemo" and "Wall-E." But he’d never made a live-action film before, and seemed miscast as a director of a $200-million-plus epic adventure.

If “John Carter” had been made at a studio with a suite of experienced studio executives, Stanton might have gotten some push back before he plunged off the cliff. But no one in the Disney hierarchy, certainly not Ross, had the credibility to tell the filmmaker that he was running off the rails. Disney made things worse when Carney decided to shorten the film’s title to “John Carter” from “John Carter of Mars,” making it feel less magical and more mundane.

I suspect there are a lot of other issues that helped bring Ross’ brief tenure to a close. When he got around to greenlighting a film, the result was “Prom,” a forgettable piece of teen fluff that barely grossed $10 million. He has a few tent-pole movies in the works, notably “The Lone Ranger” and “Oz: The Great and Powerful,” but he hasn’t appeared especially decisive when it came to stepping up to the plate and pushing product through the system. “Alice in Wonderland,” started during the Cook administration, was a huge hit, but it took Ross and Co. nearly a year to move ahead with a sequel, something that should’ve been a no-brainer.

It would be silly to claim that Ross’ departure portends the downfall of Disney. The studio is poised to enjoy what may be its biggest hit in years with the arrival of “The Avengers” in May. Of course, it’s a Marvel film, not a Disney project, but give Iger the credit for bringing Marvel into the Disney fold, a deal that looks like a long-term winner. Disney’s ABC network is also in the midst of a turnaround, and its ESPN is easily the most valuable brand in sports.

It says a lot about the shrinking importance of movie studios that the $200-million write-off for “John Carter” made hardly a blip on the stock market radar screen. Disney has the kind of deep pockets that will allow it to survive and flourish for years. But now that Iger has another bite at the apple, what will he do to bring some new life to the movie studio?

Is it time to put an old hand at the tiller, someone with decades of experience and finely tuned creative instincts? Or will Iger double down on another newcomer? If you study the history of Hollywood, the track record for outsiders isn’t especially good, especially ones like Ross who had a touch of arrogance about their own gifts. It was hard to find anyone in the business who was rooting for him to succeed, in part because he made it so clear when he arrived that he didn’t think running a studio was really that hard.

As it turns out, he was wrong. It is a brutally tough job, which is why so few people have done it well. If I were Bob Iger, I’d be very wary of making another bad choice. If his next pick doesn’t pan out, the person getting the blame will be Iger himself.

Pamela McClintock wrote:LAS VEGAS -- Kermit the Frog and Miss Piggy were personally on hand as Disney president of production Sean Bailey officially announced there will be a Muppets 2 while addressing the annual gathering of theater owners in Las Vegas.

Later, Disney and Pixar animation chief John Lasseter announced that Pixar is pursuing a 2015 animated film based around the Mexican holiday Dia de los Muertos. Toy Story 3 director Lee Unkrich will be in the director's chair with Darla K. Anderson producing.

Pixar also has titled its May 30, 2014 dinosaur film The Good Dinosaur.

Bailey provided no other details regarding the Muppets sequel, which was one of a number of projects touted during Disney's presentation at CinemaCon. Exhibitors saw the first footage from Oz: The Great and Powerful, as well as 30 minutes from Brave, the first Pixar film to feature a female heroine, while Johnny Depp showed up to tout Lone Ranger.

Bailey informed exhibitors that recording artist Jack White will write, produce and perform the score for The Lone Ranger, which opens May 2013.

Disney has good reason to pump its upcoming slate: its turn on the stage at The Colosseum at Caesars Palace comes only days after Walt Disney Studios chairman Rich Ross resigned follow box office bomb John Carter.

Exhibitors responded warmly to the Oz presentation, a combination of footage and concept art that was introduced by director Sam Raimi and producer Joe Roth. Oz stars James Franco and Mila Kunis took the stage after.

Franco went off script just as the music cued up for the group to exit, commenting that the tendency is for big movies to have more and more violence and action. "This is a different kind of big movie," he said.

Depp and Lone Ranger producer Jerry Bruckheimer showed up to discuss their movie, which features Depp in the role of Tonto (Armie Hammer plays the Lone Ranger). Bruckheimer promised that Depp is a decidedly unconventional Tonto.

"He's got some interesting additions," said Depp, who receieved a rousing response.

Added Bruckheimer: "It's the Odd Couple meets The Wild Bunch."

Tim Burton and footage from his upcoming stop-action pic Frankenweenie was another hit of Disney's show. The 3D black-and-white movie opens Oct. 5.

DreamWorks also was part of the Disney presentation, including a clip from The Odd Life of Timothy Green, which was introduced by Jennifer Garner. There was no footage shown from Steven Spielberg's Lincoln.

Pixar's part of the presentation also included a tease of the 3D relrelease of Finding Nemo. And, before Brave played, Lasseter took off his famous Hawaiian shirt to don a traditional Scottish kilt and take the stage with a group of bagpipers.

Last edited by TheButcher on Tue Apr 24, 2012 10:56 pm, edited 1 time in total.

The Walt Disney Studios made news during its presentation at the CinemaCon convention in Las Vegas tonight. It includes 3 new titles from its Pixar Animation Studios and confirmation of a sequel to its 2011 hit Winnie The Pooh. Muppets director James Bobin will return to helm with a script written by Bobin and Nicholas Stoller. A release date has not been announced.

The new Pixar titles:

The Good Dinosaur – This comedy from director Bob Peterson, co-director Peter Sohn and producer John Walker is, according to Pixar, about what would happen “if the cataclysmic asteroid that forever changed life on Earth actually missed the planet completely and giant dinosaurs never became extinct?” It will be released in the U.S. on May 30, 2014.

Untitled Pixar Movie That Takes You Inside The Mind — From Disney-Pixar’s announcement: “Pixar takes audiences on incredible journeys into extraordinary worlds: from the darkest depths of the ocean to the top of the tepui mountains in South America; from the fictional metropolis of Monstropolis to a futuristic fantasy of outer space. From director Pete Docter (“Up,” “Monsters, Inc.”) and producer Jonas Rivera (“Up”), the inventivenew film will take you to a place that everyone knows, but no one has ever seen: the world inside the human mind.” The film is slated for release June 19, 2015.

Untitled Pixar Movie About Dia De Los Muertos— Per Disney-Pixar: “From director Lee Unkrich and producer Darla K. Anderson, the filmmaking team behind the Academy Award-winning Toy Story 3, comes a wholly original Pixar Animation Studios film that delves into the vibrant holiday ofDía de los Muertos. No release date yet.

Robert Iger wrote:Marvel's The Avengers isn't just a film. It's a franchise, from our perspective. It was helped by the success of the Iron Man movies and Captain America: The First Avenger. From the Avengers we get a chance to make Thor 2 and Iron Man 3 and hopefully another Marvel's The Avengers movie.

This one film, which was successful, over $700 million, as you said, as of last night, is going to get a number of other films and franchises. We see tremendous interest in products and in games for Marvel's The Avengers. We have an ability to leverage what was a very fun film done by a great group of film makers into something much bigger for the company and the effect will be prolonged and that's very, very exciting for us."

MIKE FLEMING wrote:EXCLUSIVE: Disney has just made a pre-emptive pitch deal for Stuff Of Legend, with Pete Candeland attached to direct and Abduction‘s Shawn Christensen writing the script. It’s the second recent Disney deal for Candeland, an accomplished commercials and video director best known for his work with animation and for creating and directing the music videos for The Gorillaz and for working with Paul McCartney to create a cinematic opening to The Beatles Rock Band for Harmonix. Candeland recently made a deal to turn the Disney theme park ride Mr. Toad’s Wild Ride into a live action feature.

Stuff Of Legend, a graphic novel written by Mike Raicht & Brian Smith and illustrated by Charles Paul Wilson III, has a bit of Toy Story and The Chronicles of Narnia in it. A young boy in 1944 is abducted by the Boogeyman, dragged by the ankles into the closet realm known as The Dark. The boy’s puppy rallies his toys to follow his master in a rescue mission. Once in the closet, each of those toys become menacingly large and agile creatures who engage in a war with the Boogeyman’s forces. Those armies are comprised of the other toys stored in the closet, a mix medieval knights, cowboys and toy soldiers. The intention is to make a live action film set in a CGI world, like Alice in Wonderland.

Candeland and Christensen spent close to a year working on a pitch and visual presentation after being given the graphic novel by Mandeville exec David Manpearl. Mandeville’s David Hoberman and Todd Lieberman will produce and Manpearl will be exec producer. Candeland and Christensen are repped by Verve and Christensen is managed by Caliber Media’s Dallas Sonnier. Jake Wagner is executive producer. This is the first IP movie deal for Th3rd World Studios, which published the graphic novel. Michael DeVito is head of Th3rd World Studios.

I saw THE ROCKETEER when I was a kid and I remember liking it then, but haven't seen it since. I know lots of people still love it and I intend to revisit it at some point. I kinda remember it as being a movie that would probably benefit from today's special effects.

Apparently the original movie was a big flop upon release. So now that Disney has rebooted TRON and THE ROCKETEER, I guess we just have to count down days until they reboot JOHN CARTER.

I was a kid when "The Rocketeer" hit theatres and I have never been able to understand the love for it. it's pure hack cheese. cheese acting. cheese fx. cheese story. it is almost like a parody of serial action/adventure movies made in the 30's. pair it up with "The Shadow" for cheesy double feature night of bad movies about Depression era "superheroes"

You were a kid in 1991 and you have a 21 year old son now? It must've been tough raising a kid while finishing elementary school. Respect.

Make it a triple bill with Billy Zane in THE PHANTOM!

holy shit, it seems like longer ago than that, thought I was still a teenager when it came out instead of my early 20's, though that is still just a kid. the fact that is came out in '91 is even more of an indictment of how bad the fx are and how cheap the production value is, though.

I will take "The Phantom" over "The Rocketeer" in a heartbeat, though growing up reading "The Phantom" comic strip in the paper probably has a nostalgic sway over my opinion there

Peven wrote:pair it up with "The Shadow" for cheesy double feature night of bad movies about Depression era "superheroes"

Make it a triple bill with Billy Zane in THE PHANTOM!

I've done this before and it is Epic!

I have a lot of love for the original Rocketeer. It is a truly geniune movie. I'd even go so far as to compare it in sense of fun) to Raiders. Johnson is just having fun with the shoot, Jennifer Connelly is amazing to look at in it, timothy Dalton does his best Errol Flynn/Nazi, and Bill Campbel just has that perfect "aww shucks" quality about him that makes you believehe would strap on a rocketpack and save the world. He's a great combination of Han Solo AND Luke Skywalker.

It is also crazy faithful to Dave Stevens' original books.

But it really could use today's special effects and in the hands of the right director I could see this working. I'm not HAPPY about it

Marc Graser wrote:Christoph Waltz is in talks to join the cast of Disney's "Muppets" sequel.

Thesp will play an Interpol agent in the film that is being scripted by James Bobin and Nicholas Stoller, who wrote the first pic with Jason Segel. Bobin will return as helmer. The Mouse House is looking to release the pic sometime next year.

David Hoberman and Todd Lieberman also return as producers.

Waltz's recent credits include "Water for Elephants," "The Three Musketeers" and Roman Polanski's "Carnage." He'll next appear in Quentin Tarantino's "Django Unchained."

It's bleak, big-budget and already boasts Tom Cruise in a lead role – will Kosinski's forthcoming sci-fi project blow us away?

If dystopian science fiction is your thing, you might be in for an interesting couple of years at the cinema. Not only is Ridley Scott making a new Blade Runner film, but we have a new Judge Dredd movie to look forward to (with some trepidation if recent reports are to be believed), and Vincenzo Natali appears to be getting closer and closer to bringing his William Gibson-backed take on Neuromancer, the original cyberpunk novel, to the big screen.

Strangely, however, it's an original film from a relative newcomer that's currently the focus of attention in Hollywood. Producers on Joseph Kosinski's Oblivion, which is based on his own graphic novel and is being made by Universal, are currently choosing between actors of the calibre of Hayley Atwell, Diane Kruger and Kate Beckinsale for a leading role in the film, which takes place on an almost-deserted, post-apocalyptic Earth. Another of the world's most currently in-demand actors, The Tree of Life's Jessica Chastain, has already signed on.

In an industry where every third movie is a sequel, prequel or remake, Kosinski's project is a rare original, big-budget science-fiction project. So why exactly is it being made when so many excellent scripts of a similar disposition find themselves languishing in producers' bins? Well, for a start, Kosinski managed to recruit one Tom Cruise to take the lead role of a soldier who is one of the last men on the planet, long before any studio even decided to throw money at this thing. Secondly, in Hollywood's eyes, Kosinski is a winner because his first film, sci-fi sequel Tron: Legacy, actually made money despite a gargantuan $170m production budget.

Oblivion is reportedly shooting with a $100m budget next year. It centres on an encounter between Cruise's character and a mysterious new arrival on the planet, a beautiful woman who crashes in a spacecraft and may or may not be a disguised alien interloper from a nefarious anti-human race.

Why is Hollywood sci fi often so narrow and derivative? Even strong fare, such as Duncan Jones's excellent Moon, which borrowed heavily from paranoiac cult 1970s classics such as John Carpenter's Dark Star and Douglas Trumbull's Silent Running, exhibits this trait. One wonders whether there are any space-themed screenplays out there that don't focus on a lonely astronaut who's been out on a limb too long and might just be starting to crack. Still, if tropes must be followed, these aren't the worst.

Oblivion immediately recalls Solaris, Andrei Tarkovsky's brooding 1972 tale of an astronaut who encounters a creature that resembles his dead wife while alone on a space station, as well as the wonderful Pixar animation Wall-E, that paean to the last years of silent film, which also centred on a lonely protagonist charged with prowling a deserted planet long since abandoned by its other inhabitants.

I can't seem to find a copy of Kosinski's graphic novel anywhere, so I'm assuming it's not in print. Have a gander at these images from the comic over at firstshowing.net: with its vision of a grey and lifeless Earth, Oblivion looks pleasingly bleak and spartan. At the very least, it's blissfully free of the shiny, vacuous neo-Matrix stylings that lurk around every corner in Tron: Legacy. No wonder Disney decided to pass.

There's something auteurish about directing a defiantly leftfield movie based on your own graphic novel, but Kosinski's background does not immediately suggest a visonary temperament. In the 70s, if you wanted to make sci-fi movies, you would attend film school, create an ultra-low-budget debut using your college's facilities with your mates in the starring roles, and then hope for the best. These days it seems you might be better off learning to make adverts for video games and cosying up to studio execs.

If Oblivion goes well, Kosinski also has a remake of 1979 post-Star Wars space opera The Black Hole in the pipeline, as well as Archangels, which sounds a little like Men in Black without the laughs. Four sci-fi movies in a row (if we include Tron: Legacy) would be twice Ridley Scott's entire career total so far, but is Kosinski really the right film-maker to send us hurtling into the future?

Alex Maidy wrote:Early footage was screened by Universal at CinemaCon for Joseph Kosinski's OBLIVION, starring Tom Cruise. Reports are that the footage is so raw that it actually consisted of a combination of early concept art, rough animation, and unfinished dailies.

Why show footage this early? According to Universal Pictures chairman Adam Fogelson, “It’s very rare when you feel equally excited about the words in a script and the visuals from a director, but Oblivion offers that combination. It’s one of the most beautiful scripts we’ve ever come across.”

The basic plot is this: From TRON LEGACY director Joseph Kosinski and critically acclaimed comic creator Arvid Nelson comes an original sci-fi adventure of epic proportions. In a future where the Earth’s surface has been irradiated beyond recognition, the remnants of humanity live above the clouds, safe from the brutal alien Scavengers that stalk the ruins. But when surface drone repairman Jak discovers a mysterious woman in a crash-landed pod, it sets off an unstoppable chain of events that will force him to question everything he knows.

Entertainment Weekly broke down the footage shown at CinemaCon. You can read it below, but if you are wary of spoilers be aware that it is very detailed.

The footage opens on a perfectly blue sky, and a series of glass and white steel platforms floating among the clouds. Picture The Jetsons by way of modernist architect Mies van der Rohe.

A small vehicle is perched on one of the platforms. It’s a kind of cross between a helicopter and a private plane. Inside is Cruise’s character: “This is Commander Jak Harper. Pre-routing electrical guidance and nav systems, all go.”

“Copy that, are you ready to go?” a computerized female voice asks.

Cruise’s character has a cocky look on his face. He’s done this a lot. “Oh, I’m ready to go.”

The copter-plane lifts off of the platform, but instead of rising, it plunges down through the clouds. Soon we see Cruise’s character gliding through a hole chopped into the roof of an old municipal building, what looks to be an early 20th century library, with lots of stone and wood and dusty chandeliers hanging in stark shafts of light.

Cruise is armed, and prowls through the library with his rifle drawn. We don’t know what it is he’s looking for, but he’s clearly expecting something hostile.

The comic book source material, co-written by the movie’s director — Tron: Legacy filmmaker Joseph Kosinski — can shed some light on what’s happening: “In a future where the Earth’s surface has been irradiated beyond recognition, the remnants of humanity live above the clouds, safe from the brutal alien Scavengers that stalk the ruins.” Jak (that’s not a misspelling) is a repairman, not a policeman. It’s just that one of his tools is a firearm, and his job is to look after the surface world on behalf of the 1-percent above.

Whatever he’s looking for, he finds it. Or it finds him.

There’s a small black device with a blinking light on it – some kind of trap. As soon as Cruise’s character sees it, he has time to whisper only “Oh s–t …” before a cable snares around his leg and yanks him across the room through a collapsing wall.

In the shadows are dozens of figures, and the light reveals one of them: Morgan Freeman, sporting round goggles. “I’ve been watching you, Jak,” he says.

That sounds awesome. The graphic novel that Kosinski was originally going to turn this into never came to fruition. But, from just that description alone, it sounds like it was destined for the big screen.

We are likely a long way away from seeing the footage ourselves. OBLIVION, also starring Olga Kurylenko, Melissa Leo, and Nicolaj Coster-Waldau, opens April 26, 2013.

Borys Kit wrote:Damon Lindelof wrote the script and is producing the film, which has the working title of 'Tesla.' George Clooney could be headed to Disney for the first time in his movie career.

The actor is in negotiations to star in the studio’s ultra-secret sci-fi project written by Damon Lindelof and directed by Brad Bird, The Hollywood Reporter has confirmed.

The project was originally working under the temporary title 1952 but in recent weeks has switched to being called Tesla. Both are understood to be fake names, much like Blue Harvest was the code name for Star Wars.

The plot is being kept under wraps, although it has been described as being in the vein of Close Encounters of the Third Kind, Steven Spielberg’s 1970s movie about a man searching for extra-terrestrial life on Earth.

The project is one of a handful of live action efforts that the studio’s movie division hopes to ramp up next year in what may be its most active periods in years.

MIKE FLEMING wrote:EXCLUSIVE: Brad Bird has been set to direct 1952, a script that Disney paid former Lost producer Damon Lindelof last year to write. The film, which Lindelof is writing with Jeff Jensen, is a closely guarded secret at Disney, but it’s a big-scale tentpole film. I’m not sure if it’s a reference to the year, or a Lost reference. But it has multi-platform aspirations, and the studio hopes it will be the next film directed by Bird, who made the leap from animation to live action feature directing with the blockbuster Mission: Impossible — Ghost Protocol. The intention is to get the film into production next year, after a long prep, with Lindelof producing. Bird has been developing his own projects, including 1906.

The Lindelof deal was made last June and came out of a series of meetings that Lindelof had with Disney’s production president Sean Bailey and senior exec Brigham Taylor, and it’s the first film he is producing from the ground up. He has had an enviable run as a screenwriter since Lost wrapped. Hired to rewrite Jon Spaihts’ Alien prequel, Lindelof came up with an idea that Ridley Scott embraced and it turned the film into Prometheus, a free-standing film. He also co-wrote the Star Trek sequel for JJ Abrams. Bird is repped by UTA, Lindelof by CAA.

Disney has set Max Borenstein, the scribe behind Legendary Pictures’ in-development fantasy The Seventh Son, to write a space-set sci-fi adventure called Paladin.

Secret Machine's Justin Springer is producing the project, which he and Borenstein recently set up.

Despite what is shaping up as a disappointing opening weekend for John Carter, Disney is not shying away from epic or genre material. Paladin’s logline is being kept under the radar, but it is described as a big sci-fi adventure movie. And while much of Disney's development slate is filled with adaptations of existing material — like its Angelina Jolie project Maleficent, based on Sleeping Beauty — this is an original story.

Borenstein is an up-and-coming scribe whose first movie credit could be Seventh Son, the adaptation of Joseph Delaney’s book The Spook’s Apprentice. The movie is preproduction with a cast that includes Jeff Bridges and Kit Harington.

Borenstein, repped by UTA, Anonymous Content and Abrams Garfinkel, also worked on Warners’ remake of The Man from U.N.C.L.E. and Godzilla, the latter of which is being developed by Legendary.

Claude Brodesser-Akner wrote:Now that Disney’s troubled movie studio is under new management, our spies tells us that, curiously, one of the first properties to be developed for a feature film is a reboot of 1991’s thirties-set adventure film, The Rocketeer.

We say ‘curiously’ because while the property was actually a flop at the time, its similarity to the current Disney-Marvel cash cow Iron Man is more than a little striking: In it, a racing pilot named Cliff Secord (Billy Campbell) discovers a rocket-pack prototype in his stunt plane, hidden there by the gangsters who stole it from Howard Hughes; Secord tries it out, and, like Tony Stark, quickly discovers that a) flying without a plane is SO cool, and b) you gotta fight the bad guys (including Timothy Dalton, who two years prior had starred as James Bond for the second time) and save the girl (a luminous Jennifer Connelly).

While both properties are based on comic books, Iron Man actually arrived on the scene first: The Rocketeer was first published in 1982 by tiny (and now, sadly, defunct) Pacific Comics, and was conceived by artist Dave Stevens as an homage to the serial action heroes of the thirties. By the time Disney released The Rocketeer in 1991, Pacific had already been liquidated for half a decade. Stevens lost a battle with leukemia in March 2008 – just two months before Marvel’s adaptation of Iron Man was released.

We’re told the studio will soon be meeting with various writers to come up with a take. But its reappearance at Disney now, of course, begs the question: Why? What is new studio chief Alan Horn up to? It could be an early sign that the former Warner Bros. chief doesn’t just view his new job at Disney Studios as that of a mere portfolio manager, content to make sure acquisitions like Marvel, The Muppets, and Pixar, which keep churning out their own properties as Disney’s brand withers. That would be good news, indeed.

Brendon Connelly wrote:You see, Tesla spoke about receiving communications from Mars. He apparently built something called a Magnifying Transmitter at Colorado Springs and he picked up a repeating signal. It’s a matter of record that he recorded and was interested in something.

But then there’s the often loopy-loo myths that grew out of this. Tim Swartz’ book The Lost Journals of Nikola Tesla seems to be the source of many stories. UFO buffs have taken Tesla to heart, for ure, and he’s become a recurring part of their lore.

As such, I really wouldn’t be surprised to see him at the heart of Bird’s film.

Nor would I mind. Sounds like there are plenty of fun possibilities here.

And that’s my shot in the dark. Will Disney get around to releasing more solid information any time soon? Probably not. Will more details leak? You betcha.

Michael Fleming wrote:After turning the theme park ride "Pirates of the Caribbean" into a blockbuster film trilogy, Disney is circling an entire segment of its theme park — Tomorrowland — as inspiration for a space movie that will star Dwayne Johnson.

The studio has set scribes Jon Lucas and Scott Moore to draft an epic-sized action adventure set in space. The film is being designed as a vehicle for Johnson, who starred for the studio in family hit "The Game Plan" and most recently completed "Race to Witch Mountain."

Disney denies the film has been titled "Tomorrowland" or is dedicated to the park’s section, a futuristic area of the Magic Kingdom that includes such attractions as Space Mountain. The studio called the nascent project an original script.

The film would be produced by Mayhem Pictures partners Mark Ciardi and Gordon Gray, who produced "The Game Plan."

The scribes most recently wrote the upcoming Matthew McConaughey-Jennifer Garner starrer "The Ghosts of Girlfriends Past" from New Line, as well as comedy "The Hangover," which Todd Phillips will direct for Warner Bros.

Brendon Connelly wrote:While it’s formally early days on both The Avengers 2 and Pirates of the Caribbean 5, key players in each have extended invitations to their previous collaborators, asking them if they’d like to come back for more.

Johnny Depp apparently asked Keith Richards, who played Jack Sparrow’s dad in parts 3 and 4 to make a three-cornered hat trick with a return in chapter 5. Hollywood (by way of Movieline) caught Richards on BBC 6 Music where he said:

I spoke to Johnny a couple of weeks ago and he said, ‘Are you up for another one?’ I can leave it at that because I know no more. But I do have the costume! Some kids who don’t know nothing about the Rolling Stones go, ‘There’s Johnny Depp’s dad! There’s Captain Teague, arrrrr!’

Brendon Connelly wrote:While it’s formally early days on both The Avengers 2 and Pirates of the Caribbean 5, key players in each have extended invitations to their previous collaborators, asking them if they’d like to come back for more.

Johnny Depp apparently asked Keith Richards, who played Jack Sparrow’s dad in parts 3 and 4 to make a three-cornered hat trick with a return in chapter 5. Hollywood (by way of Movieline) caught Richards on BBC 6 Music where he said:

I spoke to Johnny a couple of weeks ago and he said, ‘Are you up for another one?’ I can leave it at that because I know no more. But I do have the costume! Some kids who don’t know nothing about the Rolling Stones go, ‘There’s Johnny Depp’s dad! There’s Captain Teague, arrrrr!’

Two of Sundance 2012's breakout stars are preparing for another adventure, as the "Safety Not Guaranteed" team of Colin Trevorrow and Derek Connolly have been hired to rewrite Disney's "Flight of the Navigator" remake, which will be developed with as a potential directing vehicle for Trevorrow.

Directed by Randal Kleiser, the original 1986 sci-fi pic followed a 12 year-old boy who goes missing and reappears eight years later having not aged a day. At the same time, an alien spacecraft crashes nearby, which may explain the boy's disappearance.

Joey Cramer starred in the original alongside Veronica Cartwright and Sarah Jessica Parker, while Paul Reubens provided the voice of the flying saucer's pilot. Brad Copeland ("Arrested Development") was hired to pen the first draft of the remake in May 2009.

David Hoberman and Todd Lieberman are producing the remake through their Mandeville banner, which has a first-look deal at the Mouse House.

"'Flight of the Navigator' wasn't a seminal movie of my childhood but I remember liking it and the original meant a lot to Colin as a kid, so it's really his baby. It'll be good to have some balance so it's not two fanboys writing the movie," Connolly told Variety.

Disney is already in business with Trevorrow and Connolly, who recently sold the studio an untitled project that will be produced by Temple Hill ("The Twilight Saga"). Trevorrow is attached to direct the pic, which is keeping its logline under wraps.

Trevorrow directed "Safety Not Guaranteed" from a script by fellow producer Connolly, who won the Waldo Salt Screenwriting Award at Sundance, where the film was nominated for the Grand Jury Prize. Duo were just nominated for Best First Feature and Best First Screenplay at the Independent Spirit Awards. They're also due to reteam with Big Beach for "Intelligent Life," formerly titled "The Ambassador," which Trevorrow will direct from a script he co-wrote with Connolly, who's currently writing a project for Pixar.

Brad Copeland is writing the remake, which is being produced by Mandeville partners David Hoberman and Todd Lieberman.

The 1986 original told the story of a 12-year-old boy who is abducted by an alien spacecraft in 1978 and reappears eight years later, still the same age and with no memory of what happened. NASA scientists discover a connection between the boy and a downed spacecraft and try to exploit the boy, who ultimately escapes with the ship and attempts to reunite with his family.

The movie grossed only $17 million when it was released but was later rediscovered on VHS, becoming a cult hit.

John Hyde, who executive produced the first one, steps into the same role for the new version.

Mandeville's senior vp Albert Page will help oversee development and exec produce. Kristin Burr is overseeing for Disney.

Copeland, repped by UTA, wrote "Wild Hogs" for Disney and is writing "Nightcrawlers" at Warners. He cut his teeth in the TV world, where he acted as writer-producer on "Arrested Development" and recently as writer and consulting producer on "My Name is Earl."

Disney-based Mandeville is readying the release of "The Proposal," the Sandra Bullock-Ryan Reynolds romantic comedy opening June 19. The company is behind the Bruce Willis sci-fi action thriller "The Surrogates," which Disney scheduled for a Sept. 25 release, and is in pre-production on Relativity and Paramount's "The Fighter," a boxing pic which will see David O. Russell directing Christian Bale and Mark Wahlberg.

Jordan Zakarin wrote:There is no detail too small to escape the obsessive stare of Star Wars fans, and since Lucasfilm announced that it would be taking the series out of carbonite and creating three new sequels, devotees of The Force have been parsing out any news update and interview quote midi-chlorian by midi-chlorian, hoping for any hints about the upcoming films.

It all has led to some surreal moments for Safety Not Guaranteed director Colin Trevorrow, a lifelong Star Wars fanatic who found himself at the center of speculation when a blog resurfaced comments he made about hoping to direct a new chapter in a film franchise with a built-in fan base.

"It’s not going to be me for Episode VII, and I can’t believe I’ve actually had to come out and say that," Trevorrow told The Hollywood Reporter at the IFP Gotham Awards on Monday. "That was the most shocking thing, like around the dinner table when I was 8, I had to assure everyone that it wasn’t me, but now actually for real. But there are a lot of things that have come up that are a lot of exciting opportunities that have come up because of [Safety]."

Lucasfilm already has announced the three screenwriters for the three films (Michael Arndt, Lawrence Kasdan and Simon Kinberg), though no directors have been set. If a fan really wanted to parse Trevorrow's statements, he only said he wouldn't be directing the first film of the bunch, leaving the next two technically up in the air. He wasn't keen to talk about the series any further.

But the writer-director, whose debut film about a would-be time traveler stars Mark Duplass, Aubrey Plaza and Jake Johnson, has been exploring many options, both in writing his own features to direct and taking on someone else's screenplay. Safety, Trevorrow said, has led to conversations with many filmmakers that have nothing to do with Luke, Leia and Han.

"More than project-specific, I’ll get an opportunity to meet people that I really respect," he said. "And it’s really casual and it’s about them being admirers of the film, and to me that’s the most comfortable. I can talk about my family and how hard it is to live outside of Los Angeles and be a director. I’ve got a lot of questions, and a lot of them are a little more personal, and so I’m trying to pick people’s brains about that -- how to navigate that and deal with it. So it’s been a real privilege to have conversations with people I’ve admired for a long time."

Marc Graser wrote:Disney may be ready to go on a journey to uncharted lands.

The Mouse House has hired "Guardians of the Galaxy" co-scribe Nicole Perlman to pen "Terra Incognita," based on an original pitch. Justin Springer ("Tron: Legacy," "Prom") will produce the project.

Plot details of the pic are being kept under wraps, but terra incognita refers to "unknown land" in Latin, and often refers to unexplored regions on maps.

Perlman, a graduate of Disney's writer's program, is co-writing Marvel's "Guardians of the Galaxy," dated for Aug 1, 2014, with Chris McCoy. She previously wrote the yet-to-be-produced space-themed scripts "Challenger," which landed on 2005's Black List, "First Man" and "Capture the Flag," along with "Kiss and Tango," based on Marina Palmer's memoirs.

Springer also is overseeing Disney's adaptation of "Mr. Toad's Wild Ride," based on the theme park ride. Pete Candeland is developing the movie to direct.

Mouse House stalwart Linda Woolverton is penning a sequel to Tim Burton's "Alice in Wonderland," the 2010 hit that starred Mia Wasikowska as Alice and Johnny Depp as the Mad Hatter. The 3D film went on to earn $1 billion worldwide and scored Oscars for art direction and costume design.

Woolverton has a long history with Disney, having previously written the studio's "Beauty and the Beast," "The Lion King," "Homeward Bound: The Incredible Journey," and "Maleficent," and contributed to toons "Mulan" and "Aladdin." Sequel's plot details are under wraps, but first film was inspired by Lewis Carroll's "Alice's Adventures in Wonderland" and its sequel "Through the Looking-Glass," with Alice fleeing real-world pressures by returning to Wonderland.

Joe Roth, Suzanne Todd and Jennifer Todd would return as producers.

Disney's first "Alice" pic is already is being developed as a musical by Disney Theatrical Prods, with Rob Ashford set to direct based on a script that Woolverton also wrote. Stage version will follow the plot of the "Alice" movie.

The "Alice" sequel is the latest fantasy tale Disney is currently lensing or developing along with big budget fantasy tales, including "Maleficent," "Cinderella," "Peter and the Starcatchers" and "Magic Kingdom" that feature characters found in its theme parks. It has "Oz the Great and Powerful" bowing in March.

Steve 'Frosty' Weintraub wrote:Collider: I know you can’t say much, but I have to ask. I am a ridiculous fan of Brad Bird, we all are. How is it progressing with 1952?

Lindelof: It’s been a dream come true for me. I first met Brad at the Speed Racer premiere because Michael Giacchino did the music for Speed Racer and he had also done the music for The Incredibles and Ratatouille, so Brad was there as Michel’s guest. I met him and got to geek out on everything going all the way back to Family Dog and he was also watching Lost at the time. The greatest thing about my life is that on occasion I will run into people that I am a massive fan of and they are familiar with some of the stuff that I’ve done, not necessarily even being a fan of it, but just knowing what it is. In this case Brad liked Lost, so I was sailing very, very high on that for quite some time. And then we would run into each other just at random things over the years. Then the writing of Trek was happening around the same time as the post production on Ghost Protocol so we were both in that a Bad Robot space at lot at that time and kind of became buds. I told him about this thing that I was working on over here at Disney. We were eating sushi, just one of those like, “So, what are you working on?” “Brad what are you doing after you wrap up on Ghost Protocol?” “Damon what are you doing after Trek?” And so I started talking about this thing and I could just see his eyes light up a little bit and I’m now totally willing to blow up this budding friendship because if I don’t my take a shot at him not I’ll be kicking myself forever. Which is to say, “Hey, if you would ever want to be involved in this thing in any way, shape or form, just call yourself an executive producer and I’ll give you a parking spot and you don’t even need to do anything on it. That would be a dream come true.”

Then we just started exchanging emails and talking about it and then this guy Jeff Jensen, who’s a friend of mine, he and I really worked on the – when you finally hear about what this thing is I’ll be able to be much more explicit about what it is. Anytime something interesting happened in the development process I would just let Bird know, “Hey we had this cool idea today.” In the spirit of letting him know that I wasn’t letting him off the hook. And then the next thing I knew I was asking him if he would direct it and he said yes. He and have now been co-writing the movie for the last four months and that’s been an incredible experience because anytime you write with a partner that you haven’t written with before they call bullshit on all your tricks that you have come to rely on and feel comfortable with, and then you learn from them in terms of how to think and how to evolve. That guy’s never made a bad movie. He’s made excellent movies in fact. So it’s been amazing and I think that the movie is going to be cool. We’ve been given a tremendous amount of creative licensee by Disney, which is kind of surprising just because they’re Disney and they have a specific, corporate brand to maintain. But it’s been really wonderful working with them. Obviously Brad had Disney in his veins, even though he was fired back in his days as an animator, it’s good to be back in the old animation building knocking a story around.

Do you guys have a planned start date for the film? Or a hopeful start date?

Lindelof: I think that we hope to be in production mid-2013.

Okay. So this is definitely the next thing? This is definitely going?

Lindelof: It’s not greenlit.

That’s my other thing. But the studio seems amped up?

Lindelof: I mean….yes. All the messaging that we’re getting right now is overwhelmingly positive, but you never know.

Totally, but I would imagine having you and having Brad wanting to do it, that’s a big thing.

Lindelof: We have to lock down some key casting elements and we have to make sure that the movie isn’t going to cost them an arm and a leg. I have confidence that we’ll be able to accomplish both those things and hopefully when we do we’ll be able to announce what this movie is.

Honor Hunter wrote:So bit by bit, day by day, we slowly get to see the slate of films that Alan Horn is creating for the Mouse...

A whole lot of sci-fi, a good portion of fantasy, a slight touch of nostalgia and even a bit of mystery. That sums of what we've seen so far, but the future will not start to unfold till 2014/15 before we see the full Horn line up of films.

What exactly does he have in mind for Walt Disney Pictures?

Well, here's the list of scripts/films/pitches that he's lined up so far. It will be a while before we find out how many of these make it all the way through production, as Hollywood is littered with dreams and scripts that died or got lost along the way.

The Rocketeer (remake) - The studio is reportedly pursuing writers to reboot the cult property based on the comic by Dave Stevens. While no news has come out since Vulture broke the story in August, it's believed that Disney is still looking for the right take on the character.

Flight of the Navagator (remake) - The 80's story of a boy that gets a spaceship of his own will get a reboot for the 21st century. Colin Trevorrow and Derek Connolly are writing the script, with Trevorrow being eyed for the director's chair.

Star Wars (sequel, spin-off) - Michael Arbdt has been put in charge of creating the playbook for another Star Wars trilogy, as well as writing the first chapter of the three. It addition to Episode VII, Lucasfilm has hired Larence Kasdan and Simon Kinberg to explore other parts of the Skywalker's galaxy. This will provide Horn with a Star Wars film every couple of years for Disney's schedule.

Tron 3 (sequel) - The sequel to Legacy has languished over the past year, but Horn has hired Jesse Wigutow to take over from the previous writer because he believes in the value of this brand. The possibilities of The Grid could come into theaters around the same time you may be able to experience the world of Tron (providing you're in China).

1952 (sci-fi original) - Brad Bird returns to Disney (sadly, not as Star Wars director) to film an original science fiction tale written by Damon Lindelof, that will possibly star George Clooney. The word is that Studio suits, Horn particularly, think the project could be a tentpole film launching a new franchise. If I were Horn, I'd put Bird under long term, exclusive contract.

The Stuff of Legend (adaptation) - Based on the comic Written by Mike Raicht and Brian Smith and illustrated by Charles Paul Wilson III, is a battle between the Boogeyman and childhood toys (a dark twist on Toy Story). Pete Candeland will adapt the graphic novel.

Untitled Scott Rosenberg film (?) - Almost nothing is known about this project, other than the fact that suits liked the pitch so much that they payed over a million for it up front. In these times that says a lot. More layers of this onion should be peeled in the new year, and I'm sure by the holidays next year, we'll have a much fuller understanding of what was so special.Alexander and the Terrible, Horrible, No Good, Very Bad Day (adaptation) - A classic children's book by award winning, author Judith Viorst, adapted and directed by Lisa Cholodenko with Steve Carell starring? It sounds like the kind of family entertainment that the Mouse has been looking for.

Matched (adaptation) - Everyone has been doing YA films and television shows the last few year to take advantage of the "Twilight" phenomenon, except Disney. Now they get into the game with an adaptation of the first novel in the "Matched" trilogy. Set in a dystopian future, where the mysterious society dictates every part of your life (fiction, or just around the corner?), if follows a seventeen year old girl and her love interest. I would openly pan these things normally, but I'll wait till we see a trailer for this before I become too judgemental.

Peter and the Starcatchers (adaptation) - The adaptation of the first novel in the series by Dave Barry and Ridley Pearson is getting the grand treatment under Gary Ross's helm. Essentially a prequel to the Peter Pan tale that follows the Neverland crew on adventures before Wendy and the world intrude the second star to the right. This one has franchise written all over it. The question is will it have box office hit written all over it?

Terra Incognita (sci-fi original, ?) - Nicole Perlman, who co-wrote DreamWorks Animation's "Rise of the Guardians" sold this pitch days ago to the Mouse. Other than Justin Springer being attached as producer, nothing is known about the story, except it interested Horn enough to buy the pitch upfront.

Don Quixote (period adventure) - Horn's latest acquisition/deal with Johnny Depp's Infinitum Nihil production company producing. The famous tale of Alonso Quijano, a man who goes on a quest with his squire, Sancho Panza, in search of renewal and adventure. So Terry Gilliam will see at least something arise from his attempt to use this novel as a parable.

This is the short lists of what has been approved to go into development, production or purchase. And as 2013 comes around we'll likely see a whole lot more pieces of the puzzle fall into place.

Hopefully one of those will be Guillermo del Toro's Haunted Mansion reboot...

Pirates Of The Caribbean 5, which is set for July 10, 2015 The Muppets 2, which will bow March 21, 2014 1952, starring George Clooney, now set for December 19, 2014 in 3D Disney has moved its Angelina Jolie-starrer Maleficent to July 2, 2014Captain America: The Winter Soldier in 3D (April 4, 2014) Guardians Of The Galaxy in 3D (August 1, 2014)

Jordan Zakarin wrote:The film, co-written by Damon Lindelof and director Brad Bird, was initially titled "1952" and is due for a 2014 release.

New details about Brad Bird's new Disney film only deepen its mystery.

Walt Disney Pictures announced on Monday that the live action science fiction film that has gone by the name 1952 has been retitled Tomorrowland, offering a potential hint at its subject matter. The film now shares a name with the section of Disneyland, which was part of the theme park's launch in 1955. George Clooney will star in the film, which was co-written by Damon Lindelof (Lost and Prometheus) and Bird himself.

The film is slated for a December 19, 2014 release.

Disney has long worked to create more films out of its iconic rides; the Pirates of the Carribean, now heading to its fifth installment, has become a multi-billion dollar franchise, while Guillermo del Toro is working on a second version of the Haunted Mansion film, the first of which came out in 2003. In 2011, Disney moved forward with development on a film called The Hill, which is to be based on Fantasyland's Matterhorn mountain ride.

Josh Rottenberg wrote:Cue Kermit’s patented arm-flailing “Yaaaaaay!” Following their successful return to the pop culture spotlight with 2011’s The Muppets, Kermit the Frog, Miss Piggy, Fozzie Bear, and the rest of the gang are heading back to the big screen. The Muppets…Again!, currently shooting in London and due in theaters March 21, 2014, finds the Muppet repertory company enjoying a triumphant world tour, only to become tangled up with a criminal mastermind named Constantine, who is out to steal an enormous diamond—and who happens to be a dead ringer for Kermit. “I always loved those classic jewel-heist capers from the ’60s and ’70s, so I was very keen to do a movie that had elements of that [genre] featuring the Muppets and comedy and songs,” says returning director James Bobin, who co-wrote the script with Nicholas Stoller. Starring opposite the Muppets this time are Ricky Gervais (as Constantine’s villainous sidekick), Tina Fey (as a Russian prison guard), and Ty Burrell (as an Interpol agent). For more inside scoop on the project, we went straight to the source: Kermit the Frog himself.

Josh Rottenberg wrote:Cue Kermit’s patented arm-flailing “Yaaaaaay!” Following their successful return to the pop culture spotlight with 2011’s The Muppets, Kermit the Frog, Miss Piggy, Fozzie Bear, and the rest of the gang are heading back to the big screen. The Muppets…Again!, currently shooting in London and due in theaters March 21, 2014, finds the Muppet repertory company enjoying a triumphant world tour, only to become tangled up with a criminal mastermind named Constantine, who is out to steal an enormous diamond—and who happens to be a dead ringer for Kermit. “I always loved those classic jewel-heist capers from the ’60s and ’70s, so I was very keen to do a movie that had elements of that [genre] featuring the Muppets and comedy and songs,” says returning director James Bobin, who co-wrote the script with Nicholas Stoller. Starring opposite the Muppets this time are Ricky Gervais (as Constantine’s villainous sidekick), Tina Fey (as a Russian prison guard), and Ty Burrell (as an Interpol agent). For more inside scoop on the project, we went straight to the source: Kermit the Frog himself.

Josh Rottenberg wrote:Cue Kermit’s patented arm-flailing “Yaaaaaay!” Following their successful return to the pop culture spotlight with 2011’s The Muppets, Kermit the Frog, Miss Piggy, Fozzie Bear, and the rest of the gang are heading back to the big screen. The Muppets…Again!, currently shooting in London and due in theaters March 21, 2014, finds the Muppet repertory company enjoying a triumphant world tour, only to become tangled up with a criminal mastermind named Constantine, who is out to steal an enormous diamond—and who happens to be a dead ringer for Kermit. “I always loved those classic jewel-heist capers from the ’60s and ’70s, so I was very keen to do a movie that had elements of that [genre] featuring the Muppets and comedy and songs,” says returning director James Bobin, who co-wrote the script with Nicholas Stoller. Starring opposite the Muppets this time are Ricky Gervais (as Constantine’s villainous sidekick), Tina Fey (as a Russian prison guard), and Ty Burrell (as an Interpol agent). For more inside scoop on the project, we went straight to the source: Kermit the Frog himself.

Josh Rottenberg wrote:Cue Kermit’s patented arm-flailing “Yaaaaaay!” Following their successful return to the pop culture spotlight with 2011’s The Muppets, Kermit the Frog, Miss Piggy, Fozzie Bear, and the rest of the gang are heading back to the big screen. The Muppets…Again!, currently shooting in London and due in theaters March 21, 2014, finds the Muppet repertory company enjoying a triumphant world tour, only to become tangled up with a criminal mastermind named Constantine, who is out to steal an enormous diamond—and who happens to be a dead ringer for Kermit. “I always loved those classic jewel-heist capers from the ’60s and ’70s, so I was very keen to do a movie that had elements of that [genre] featuring the Muppets and comedy and songs,” says returning director James Bobin, who co-wrote the script with Nicholas Stoller. Starring opposite the Muppets this time are Ricky Gervais (as Constantine’s villainous sidekick), Tina Fey (as a Russian prison guard), and Ty Burrell (as an Interpol agent). For more inside scoop on the project, we went straight to the source: Kermit the Frog himself.

Hey folks, Harry here... I love film history. In all my years of doing AICN, I've met a lot of different film experts, a great deal of which have been virtual relationships. Jim Hill of JimHillMedia.Com is one of the oldest and dearest sources of cool news regarding Disney film and its themeparks. Today he's written an update to his site that proposes a theory about Brad Bird and Damon Lindelof's TOMORROWLAND, formerly known as 1952.

His entire theory comes out of that 1952 box... but also conversations he's had with the wealth of Disney dignitaries over his time covering that beat. He goes into Disney's MAN IN SPACE series, which was something they had the complete cooperation of the U.S. Government for, as Jim tells us, Disney had been working with the Military and the Government throughout WWII. In fact, Walt used those relationships to help guarantee his leg up over the rest of the industry in regards to all manners of deals. But apparently Ward Kimball, the brilliant Disney animator and part of Walt's Brain Trust... well Ward apparently had a story he used to tell.

Aaaaaand once again the main site gets smoked on a breaking story as other entertainment sites out there already have the news up about Harrison Ford being in the new ST movie while there isn't a word about it on aicn.....